Infertility Timeline

**Please know that there are affiliate links through our infertility timeline. You can read my disclosure on affiliate links here.

November 2009 – Started trying to get pregnant. Went off birth control, thought it may be easy to get pregnant.

November 2010 – Still not pregnant and we didn’t have enough money to start testing and had no idea where to go or what to do.

Spring 2011 (not sure exactly what month) – Went to our primary physicians office and got testing done. Found out I was “fine,” but Chase had sperm issues. The doctor said we should do 6-IUI’s without medication and then go from there.

End of December 2011 – Another IUI $300 – didn’t get pregnant, started messing up my cycle and giving me stress and anxiety.

January 2012 – I got a book for my birthday called “Taking Charge of Your Fertility” from a dear friend and started doing the Basil Body Temperature (BBT) and Ovulation kit and tracking when I knew I was ovulating by using my own body – Pretty cool that your body tells you when you are fertile.

Spent most of 2012 – Wondering what we should do next, while we kept trying using the method in the book.

September 2013 – Friends refer us to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE).

October 2013 – Met with our RE, he had me do an ovarian reserve test, as well as put me on Femera with no ultrasound or charting. Chase did another sperm analysis which included the Kroger test.

November 2013 – Had an Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) done. Results came back clean, no tubal blockage.

December 2013 – Met with the RE and he told Chase that the little guys are swimming in circles and making some progression (most sperm are on the freeway headed in the right direction). The RE finally told us our best bet is to do in vitro fertilization (IVF) and that would bring our chances up to 25-40% depending on which IVF treatment we decide to do. He also said that we could have a somewhat high chance if we did a intrauterine insemination (IUI) with FSH injections and that would only bring us up to an 8% chance of getting pregnant.

After hearing that IVF is probably going to be our only option, we chose to just take a break.

April 2014 – Chase’s Semen Analysis (SA) resulted in his sperm count jumping to 39.3 million (normal > 15). Which lead to normal sperm and him finding out he was on the real thing – not the placebo. Chase is now on the same dosage of Zinc and Folic Acid. Tried on our own for 3 months, no luck.

July 2015 – Met with a new Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). He said to try 3 rounds of IUI with Femara, hCG trigger shot, and Progesterone Suppositories.

August 2015 – Started 1st round of Femara (3 pills a day for 5 days), hCG trigger shot the day before our 1st IUI, which happened to be on Chase’s birthday, followed by progesterone suppositories until the beta blood test. AF (Aunt Flo) decided to show up a few days before the beta blood test (14dpiui – 14 days post IUI). So we had our first failed IUI.

September 2015 – Started IUI #2 with Femara, and did the hCG trigger shot Friday night, and our IUI was scheduled for 36 hours after the shot (Sunday morning). Used progesterone suppositories until AF started (which was the day after my first marathon – 13dpiui (13 days post IUI)), and the beta test was scheduled for that following Monday. This was our second failed IUI.

October 2015 – Did our 3rd IUI with Femara, and hCG trigger shot on the 10th, and after a week and a half of progesterone suppositories, AF decided to show up on day 26, 13dpiui (13 days post IUI).

November 2015 – Met with RE, discussed our options, which was moving towards IVF. Taking November and December off of “trying,” and starting IVF January 2016.

January 2016 – Started IVF January 4, put on Lupron, Follistim, and Menopur. Egg Retrieval; January 19: 8 follicles, 6 mature, 4 fertilized, and the RE was 90% sure Tedi has endometriosis. Embryo Transfer; January 24, transferred 2 embryos (that’s all that we had), a good and a fair quality.

August 2016 – August 12, got a negative blood pregnancy test. Never got pregnant. Next option is either embryo adoption, adoption or egg donor. Decided to take a break and focus again on our marriage and building each other up. Focusing on our goal of becoming debt free by January 2017.

September 2016 – After being told I would never become a biological mother, we found out we were pregnant in mid September. It was a spontaneous pregnancy with using no drugs, or undergoing any fertility treatments. We are so blessed and our little man is due the end of June 2017.

June 2017 – Kason Palmer was born on June 25, 2017. Happy and Healthy. Looking forward, we are not sure if we will be able to get pregnant on our own again. But when the time comes and we feel we should start trying again, we won’t wait as long to seek medical treatment.

January 2019 – Started trying for Baby number 2. We decided we aren’t doing IVF again, we are going the natural approach working with a Napro doctor.

I was scrolling through Pinterest today and this face that I know and love was there, in the mix! My heart aches to hear all that you’ve been through. And I’m so inspired by the way you’ve used your experiences to support others. Sending love and hugs, old friend 💖

welcome!

Hi! I’m Tedi Palmer, and I’m so glad you’re here! You’ll find a lot of good things here including our infertility journey, ideas to help you on your own journey, my love for Etsy, my running and fitness adventures, and how life moves on even during great trials.